Dichloroacetic acid treatment increases hepatic CYP2E1 in male and female rats

Previously, we showed that the pretreatment of dichloroacetic acid (DCA) increased CHCl3-induced hepatotoxicity in vivo and CHCl3 metabolism in vitro in both male and female rats, The effects of DCA on hepatic cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenases were studied in this experiment, Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with DCA (each 2.45 mmol/kg) three times (9 AM, 4 PM, and 9 AM) and hepatic microsomes were prepared 3 hr after the last treatment (the same procedure as previous studies). After DCA treatment, the total content of cytochrome P450 (0.67 nmol/mg protein vs 0.79) and the activity of NADPH-dependent cytochrome P450 reductase (227 nmol/mg protein/min vs 332) were significantly increased in female rats, but they were unchanged in males (0.99 vs 0.98 for P450; 315 vs 311 for reductase). Induction of CYP2E1 was observed in both sexes, evidenced as increased activities of aniline and p-nitrophenol hydroxylases and increased CYP2E1 protein amount determined by immunoblot assay, In contrast, the CYP2B-related activity (dealkylation of pentoxyresorufin) and immunoreactive protein did not increase after DCA. treatment in either males or females. The activity of ethoxyresorufin dealkylase was decreased in DCA-treated males compared to their controls (310 pmol/mg protein/min vs 229, p < 0.05), but it was not significantly affected in females. These data demonstrate that DCA treatment of both male and female rats altered the population of hepatic cytochrome P450, The results support the hypothesis that DCA increases CHCl3 metabolism, and therefore hepatotoxicity, by inducing CYP2E1. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.